Period+8-+Question+1


 * What kind of young girl is Scout Finch? In what ways is she both a familiar and an unusual character? Did you identify with her? How does she change over the course of the novel? What does she learn? Why does she resist Aunt Alexandra’s efforts to turn her into a “lady”?**

I agree with both Amber and Nora. Scout is a tomboy and she is unusual but in her own way. Like how Nora explained, the dresses. Dresses was what pretty much every single woman would wear, counting babies. Well I think the babies too, but it was very unusual to see a girl wearing something like overalls and not a dress at that time period. I somewhat identify with Scout, I'm a sporty type of person and just like Nora isn't such a dress person either, I like to wear pants, but I would never think about overalls, either way. She starts to change over the coarse of the novel and starts to get more mature, she starts to learn from either her acts or others acts. Like when she starts to beat up her cousin Francis and calls him a rather bad word, but only because he called her one earlier before. She had gotten punished for it, she learned to start to calm down with the bad language. Also when her brother Jem, destroyed the old woman's flowers, once Jem was punished Scout had a feeling that it would be stupid to ever try such a stunt. I think that she resists Aunt Alexandra's efforts to turn her into a "lady" because she just doesn't like or want it, end of story period. She probably deep down wishes that her Aunt would stop bugging her and just leave her alone. I would probably get very annoyed if my Aunt started to do that to me. //- Priscilla A.//

I am going to reflect on Nora’s entry: I agree with that scout doesn’t act as a normal girl would in the 1930’s. For example: she wears overalls instead of dresses, she beats up kids, and play with boys instead of playing with dolls. She reminds me of myself at a younger age because; I myself use to be a tomboy. I was tough and I always liked to play with the boys. Over the course of the novel as Nora said she became more mature and learned to talk out her problems with people. But her aunt did a number on her one day. Her aunt Alexandra keeps telling her that she needs to act more ladylike. Scout refuses to listen because she is her own person. That is a great thing to be able to rid yourself from the influence of other people’s opinions. –Amber A.


 * Scout Finch is a tomboy. She is familiar because she is just like any little sister because she follows her older brother, Jem, around. She also has fears of things that are not familiar to her, such as Boo Radley who stays in his house and has been said to have stabbed his father with scissors. I can connect to Scout because I also do not care for dresses. And just like her, I love to play outside! Scout is an unusual character for her time because girls in the 1930s usually wore dresses or skirts instead of her who wears pants. Her Aunt Alexandra has pointed this out. She is also unusual because her female predecessors were southern belles. Over the course of the novel, Scout has become more mature. She is learning that one can settle fights without using his or her fists. For example, on page 74, Scout was trying to resist the temptation to fight Cecil Jacobs for saying that Atticus defended African Americans. Despite what she is learning, it is not enough for Aunt Alexandra. She insists that Scout be more lady-like because that is what is expected of ladies from the Finch Family ladies. She thinks being more lady-like will make Scout a better person and Atticus agreed to it. I agree with Pricilla because if Aunt Alexandra is nagging her so much, Scout probably wishes that her aunt would let her be the person she wants to be. -Nora B ||

Scout is a little Tomboy. She hangs out with Jem and Dill only and they're boys. Jem always becomes upset at her when she starts acting like a "girl" so Scout aviods these actions. She is forced to belive acting like a girl is bad. She always feel left out around Dill and Jem beacuse she is a girl. and she has no other friends so she tries to act like a boy to hold there friendship(which is bad beacuse friends shouldnt care about that stuff). Also she has no girl friends or a mom so she doesnt really understand what a girl is expected to do and how she is expected to act. I can identify with Scout beacuse i know what it islike having a older brother and always wanting to hang out with him and his friends. Over ths cousre of the novel scout learns how not to beat up other kids but, instead to take verbal actions. I feel Scout resists her Aunt's wishes because she doesnt care how she acts. She see's herself as a normal girl and she is fine with how she is now and she can't find any good reason to change into something she doesn't like. -Cioffi C.

I agree with Pricilla and Chris C. They both mention how it's okay to be different if you like who you are. To me it is important to be true to yourself and try not to listen to offensive or negitive things that people have to say about you. Scout does what she is confortable with. She dresses how she wants and hangs out with who she wants. I think it's good that Scout doesn't listen to what her aunt says. If Scouts aunt has a problem with how she acts that's her aunts problem because Scout seems perfectly content with her situation. I alsao agree with Melissa C and Chris C's comment about how Scout doesn't doesn't have a mom being part of why she acts how she acts. Since she is surrounded by men that's who she hangs out with and that's who she can relate to most. (besides, boys cause less drama and are good to have around.) There is nothing wrong with how Scout acts. I can relate to how Scout feels. (anyone who sees who i hang out with can understand that) Scout may be a tomboy and might not act like a girl but there's really no problem with that.... MY POINT IS i agree with most of the comments here. -Julia R

I believe that Scout Finch is defiantly a tomboy. She follows Jem around and plays with him mostly outdoors. Scout never remembered her mother and hasn’t had a dominant women figure in her life besides Calpurnia. Back in the 1930’s it was strange for a young girl to be playing outside in pants. Most little girls followed the rules, wore dresses, and stayed inside. Today it is clearly acceptable for a girl to wear pants and be her own person. I can identify with Scout because when I was younger I would play outside without worrying about getting dirty. Scout has changed over the course of the novel. She is slowly learning how to deal with her problems verbally not physically and the importance of avoiding confrontation. I think that Scout resists her Aunt’s wishes because she likes the person she is and doesn’t see a problem in acting more like a boy. Scout accepts the person she is and doesn’t pay any attention to her Aunt’s wishes. I agree with Amber, that Scout is a stronger person than we think because she is able to ignore her Aunt’s ideas and other peoples’ opinions of her. Scout is able to block out what other people think of her, which is very noble and hard to do at times. -Melissa.C

I agree with Nora, Amber and Priscilla that Scout is a tomboy. I don’t think Scout is unusual at all except the fact that she ate gum from a hole in the ground! Also I think it is very rare for a tomboy to be in a book. I was like Scout when I was younger because at that time I hated boys and Barbie dolls! Scout matured over time in the novel by controlling her anger in ways. She learned how to use words instead of physically hitting someone. I think that Scout resisted Aunt Alexandra’s efforts to turn in to a “lady” because she was had no one to put a lady influence on her. Also Scout resisted because she didn’t like Aunt Alexandra and Francis. Jessica.C

Scott has a masculine characteristic to her. This would be obvious because she grew up surrounded by men. -gunoo h